The hardest thing

Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you (Colossians 3:13).

What is the hardest thing a person can do? Is it pushing your body to the limit, like an athlete who trains for competition? Is it never letting on that another person annoys you, like a chatty stranger sitting next to you on a plane? Is it the hardest thing of all to maintain a positive attitude in the face of tragedy, like staying cheerful even though you’ve been diagnosed with terminal cancer? Or is it finding something to excite and interest you when days are boring and dreary, like they are during the dead of winter?

Life brings many challenges that are hard to overcome. People are victimized by crimes like abuse, discrimination, and theft. Some have to deal with the pain of unfaithfulness and divorce. Others face problems like unemployment and homelessness. Many feel stress from pressure—pressure to conform, pressure to meet high expectations.

But there is one challenge that eclipses all others in terms of difficulty. This hardest thing of all is something that each of us faces over and over again. This hardest thing makes us back away in reluctance, because we don’t like doing it. And even when we try, we usually do a poor job of it. The hardest thing of all is to forgive.

Forgiving is the hardest thing that you’ll ever be called upon to do. When someone wrongs us, the last thing we want to do is forgive them. When others treat us badly, we want to see them hurt. When others take advantage of us, we want them to give us some kind of restitution. But forgiving denies us these things. Forgiveness releases the other person from punishment. Forgiveness makes no demands for any sort of pay back. When you forgive an enemy, you’re letting him off the hook. When you forgive a friend, you’re promising to bury her mistake in the past forever—you’ll never bring it up again, and you will respect and trust her just like you always have.

Nothing is harder than forgiveness. Jesus is living proof of it. The Son of God had to suffer and die so that your sins and mine could be forgiven. Yet Jesus was willing to do it—He endured God’s anger in our place because He loves us and wants us to be with Him forever. That’s what forgiveness does—it reunites people in love.